Advance Parole - Use more than once?

[B Jones 0]

Does the Advance Parole during the adjustment of status (from K-1 to Permanent Resident) allow for multiple international trips, or is it good only once?

Thanks,

Brad

[thongd4me 69]

Does the Advance Parole during the adjustment of status (from K-1 to Permanent Resident) allow for multiple international trips, or is it good only once?

Thanks,

Brad

Yes it does. My wife got AP (they gave her 2 identical certificates).

She went to Thailand June 28 and returned July 17.

On one of the certificates they stamped & dated it in a box at the bottom "PAROLED."

I'm guessing that if she needed to travel again she would use the other certificate on her return,

but her 2-yr GC was approved yesterday.

The first guy at the airport on her return kept insisting she show them her visa

but his colleague corrected him and set him straight on that.

A single AP certificate could also have multiple stamps (there is room for them).

Others would have to confirm this.

Edited July 21, 2010 by thongd4me

[HeatDeath 430]

On the I-131 where you apply for the AP document, there is a checkbox where you indicate that you intend to use the travel document for multiple trips. If you check this, the AP documents they send you will have a line of text on them indicating that they are good for multiple entries.

How it works is this: The first time you try to reenter the US with your AP documents you give them both identical copies you have. They will stamp both, keep one, and return the other to you. On subsequent reentries prior to receiving the green card (which of course completely obsoletes the AP documents) you show them the stamped AP document you still have, and they let you through. They don't take the second one.

These days, of course, GCs are being approved fast enough that it's comparatively rare to even use an AP document once. In the vast majority of cases, your GC will arrive before you even have to use it once. Having to use it twice is virtually unheard of.

[B Jones 0]

That makes sense. Thanks!

[thongd4me 69]

On the I-131 where you apply for the AP document, there is a checkbox where you indicate that you intend to use the travel document for multiple trips. If you check this, the AP documents they send you will have a line of text on them indicating that they are good for multiple entries.

How it works is this: The first time you try to reenter the US with your AP documents you give them both identical copies you have. They will stamp both, keep one, and return the other to you. On subsequent reentries prior to receiving the green card (which of course completely obsoletes the AP documents) you show them the stamped AP document you still have, and they let you through. They don't take the second one.

These days, of course, GCs are being approved fast enough that it's comparatively rare to even use an AP document once. In the vast majority of cases, your GC will arrive before you even have to use it once. Having to use it twice is virtually unheard of.

My wife got a stamp on one but the other one was not touched

after her 2-week trip from June 28-July 17 this summer.

Both were returned to her.

The issue of multiple entries is now covered by the GC

I-551 stamp which was awarded at the interview on July 20.

She came on a K-1; I don't know if AP is different for K-1

and other visas. Both certificates said valid for multiple

applications. We don't need either of them now.

Edited July 23, 2010 by thongd4me

[thongd4me 69]

Just 2 more points (after looking at her AP document one more time):

The AP certificate was issued on June 16, 2010 so it was valid until June 15, 2011 (one year).

The Homeland Security stamp at the POE said

"Paroled until July 16, 2011"

Purpose: AOS

Dated: July 17, 2010 (date of POE)

The document says explicitly that the AP does not give

admission to the US (permanent residence) but allows

the CBP officer to "parole" the bearer into the US

at his discretion, i.e. if it serves the "public interest

of the United States."

That gives you more an idea of how it works.

The word "parole" comes from the French,

meaning "word" as in "giving one's word" -

it has mutated in English usage to refer

to being freed before one's jail term is up,

because a prisoner given this advantage

is giving his word to be good....

How nice of the USCIS to have borrowed

such an appropriate word and put it to

it's own use...